June 6, 2012

You are beautiful (and deserve a discount)

Workouts: on Monday, I just didn't feel like leaving the house. It was raining, and I wanted to lie in bed and hear the rain, so I did that for pretty much a solid day. Not really in bed the whole day, but I was in slow motion mode. Everything I did was slower than normal. At one point I was going to go to the gym, but I thought I lost my keys. Secretly my lazy heart was grateful, so when my daughter found them for the dollar I promised to the finder, I silently agreed to ignore the found-ness of the keys and pretend we were still stuck at home for a day. I guess some days I need to ignore that the world outside of our house exists.

Yesterday, I almost continued the streak, but I made it into the gym for 30 minutes, and somehow I managed to crank out one of my best recent runs. I told myself that I would start with one easy-ish mile and make every mile after that faster. The numbers shook out like this: mile 1 -- 7:29 (um, wait, not easy), mile 2 -- 7:26, mile 3 -- 7:15, mile 4 -- 6:58. I only had the timer on my phone with me today, and I pulled it out for the last two (of nine) laps on each mile to see if I needed to speed up to meet my goal. I definitely had to on mile 2, but miles 3 and 4 felt like I was more on a natural pace to hit the numbers. Looks like after mile 2, my body realized I was serious about only staying at the gym for 30 minutes. If our kids' club didn't close for two random hours in the middle of the day, I would have stayed longer.

Does your gym kids' club cut hours in the middle of the day? Our is open from 8-1 then 3-close. Weirdness, and it really bugs in the summer when that is a perfect time to go to the gym.

New Nike embossed shorts from TJ Maxx. I would like the waistband to be slightly looser, but I like everything else about them. Also, if you squint your eyes in a picture, it's more interesting because people don't know if you're really happy or just trying to read a sign that's far away.

Today, I ran 9 treadmill miles and increased the incline .5 with every mile. After mile 7, I took it to a -.5 for the last two miles and tried to spin my legs as fast as I could. For the final mile, I got up to 9 point something. Not sure exactly because I was so focused on my mantra: don't fall off, don't fall off, don't fall off. I read somewhere that having a negative incline helps better simulate the pounding of road running. Added bonus: it's also easier to go faster. Finished the nine miles in 1:14.

Do you ever run with a negative incline on the treadmill?

Twin B has started imitating animals at the zoo.

I guess we've both been spending too much time with the animals because when I saw this at Wally world, I almost reached out and grabbed it. I'm still sad I didn't. Sometimes I cry about not growing up with today's generation, mostly because of the duct tape options.

Did I already mention that there is a You Are Beautiful spray painting bandit (or bandits) in Birmingham. If you are going to have a graffiti theme, it's a pretty positive one. You guys might think I'm exaggerating, but if you Google it, you'll see pictures of the hundreds of places this has been spray painted around our little town. This may be a chicken or egg question, but I wonder if these other examples I recently saw in town came before or after these people saw the graffiti artist's (or artists' -- it's such a mystery) work around town. I know it's not a new phrase, but it is really hot in Magic City (that's Birmingham's nickname) right now. Thanks, Chirstina Aguilera, for never allowing us to read this phrase without hearing your voice in our minds.

My beautiful niece just graduated this weekend! I cried at the graduation. Just sentimental or just awkward? Do you cry at graduations?

Also, happy National Running Day to all of you! What are you doing to celebrate? If you are looking for some deals to be had, here are two of my favorites for the day.

Today only, Rock 'n' Roll races are giving $20 off for any race for which you register today. So if you've been holding out, today's the day to sign up. Also, no code required. Just sign up!

That last tip I got from a bloggy buddy I met up with yesterday. This is exactly why I need to meet more local runners. Not only do they know the interweb deals, but they know the best tricks for long running in our town. Thanks, Christy! And she has the cutest daughter ever. And she saved my child's hand from getting sucked permanently into an elevator door.

That's my last tip of the day: don't let your toddlers put their hands on an opening elevator door. Twin B's hand got sucked in when the door started to open, and I was pulling as hard as I could to try and get his hand out while simultaneously attempting to stop the door from opening with my body. Christy heroically jumped in and pressed the close button, so it would release his hand. She pretty much saved his hand! If he grows up to be a surgeon, she will then be responsible for saving thousands of lives with that one hand save.

So great meeting up with you. Let's just say my girl adored your twins!!! She was all about playing at the library. Don't forget that there was a super cursed swing that day too. My child almost broke her head into flipping off backwards. What joy! I would like to say I helped with little ones hand...but you stayed much calmer than I would have or did. I think I panicked in the elevator gaing.."open or close???" ha!!! Anyway. Would love to do it again if you dare. Ha!!!